Sending Doctor Who's biggest bads into iconic locations like Trafalgar Square helped establish the series as a long-standing British favourite. There's arguably no better example of the practice than Terry Nation's home invasion saga, that had his fiendish creations rolling along Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament looking on anxiously in the background. It's a testament to the popularity of William Hartnell's adventures that the production team made this ballsy visual declaration. Only a year previously no-one knew what a Dalek or a TARDIS was. By 1964 they were dominating our TV screens and our capital city. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan uncovered the pepperpot-shaped pests in a metropolis of the future, encountering Robomen and resistance fighters into the bargain. Hartnell wound up losing his very first and most important companion, when Carole Ann Ford decided to leave her grandfather and strike out on her own in this world of tomorrow. The story achieved further notoriety when Milton Subotsky chose it as the basis for his second big screen outing based on the Doctor's exploits, Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. If any London-set chapter could take on the Hollywood competition it was this one.
I am a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. My short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
